Band-saw mill



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'DE WITT 0. PRESCOTT. BAND SAW MILL.

N0. 472,586. Patented Apr. 12, 1892.

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DE WITT c. PRESCOTT.

BAND SAW MILL.

No. 472,586. atente'd Apr. 12, 1892.

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DE WITT G. PRESCOTT.

BAND SAW MILL.

No. 472,586; Patente d.Apr. 12, 1892.

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BAND SAW MILL.

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NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DE \VITT CLINTON PRESCOTT, OF MARINETTE, WISCONSIN.

BAN D-SAW MILL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 472,586, dated April12, 1892.

I Application filed June 6, 1890. Serial No. 354,481. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DE WITT CLINTON Pans- COTT, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Marinette, in the county of Marinette and State ofWisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Band-SawMills, which are fully set forth in the following specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1represents an end elevation of a band-saw mill embodying my invention,looking toward the front of the saw; Fig. 2, a front side elevation ofthe same with portions of the mechanism broken away; Fig. 3,'a plansection of the same, taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4C, a detailelevation of the lever and wheel for operating the regular settingmechanism Fig. 5, a detail plan section similar to Fig. 3, but with thecarriage removed; Fig. 6, a detail side elevation of a section of one ofthe carriage-tracks; Fig.7, a plan view of the same; Fig. 8, a detailside elevation of the regulating-roller and its setting mechanism; andFig. 9, a detail edge elevation of' the same looking toward the saw andthe upper portion broken away. Figs. 1 to 5 of the drawings areupon thesame scale. The remaining figures are also upon one scale, butconsiderably enlarged from that of the former.

My invention relates to band-saw mills, but more particularly to a millof small size designed for resawing lumber or the sawing up of smalllogs, whereby it is adapted forcuse in large mills in connection withthe larger saws, and being arranged so as to occupy less space than withthe usual organization of these machines is further adapted for usewhere great economy of room'is necessary.

I will proceed to describe in detail the construction'and operation of amill in which I have embodied my invention in one practical form, andwill then point out more definitely in claims the improvements which Ibelieve to be new and wish to secure by Letters Patent.

The mainfeatures of the mill may be of any known construction and willnot be particularly described in the present instance.

In the drawings I have shown for the purposes of illustration aband-sawmill in all its general features substantially like that shown anddescribed in Letters Patent No. 416,012,

granted to me November 26, 1889, to which reference is made forparticulars; but this is simply for illustration, as the improvementswhich constitute the subject-matter of my present invention areapplicable to band-saw mills of any construction.

In the drawings, Arepresents the base of the saw-tram e, upon which ismounted an upright hollow column B, consisting of two parts a lowersection b, fixed upon the base, and an upper section b, telescoped uponthe former. The upper band-wheel O is mounted on this upper movablesection b of the column, as described and shown in my said prior patent,the arrangement being such that its shaft 0 somewhat overhangs thecolumn. Thelower band-wheel D is mounted by supporting its shaft d independing brackets a a, as in said patent, and is provided with thedriving bandpulley d. The thin band-saw E is arranged upon theseband-Wheels in the usual manner.

Heretofore in mills of this description the log-carriage has beenarranged outside of the saw; but in my present invention one of theprincipal features of the improvement is the arrangement of thecarriage-track within the saw, so that the carriage travels back andforth between the saw and the supportingcolumn. The carriage-tracks F Fare of any ordinary construction, but are arranged so that they runbetween the saw E and the column B on the operative side of the mill.The carriage G is in all general features of usual construction, itstrucks g being fitted to the tracks F, as usual. The carriage-track mustof course be of narrow gage as compared with the tracks of ordinarymills and the carriage must be correspondingly narrow, as the spacebetween the saw and column within which the carriage travels is limited;but this space issufficient to accommodate a carriage wide enough forthe purposes of this mill, so that a cant of ordinary thickness or asmallsized log can be worked up Without any difficulty. Preferably thecarriage is capable of lateral movement upon its truck-axles, and, asshown in the drawings, is provided with an offsetting mechanism H, suchas is shown and described in my prior Letters Patent, No.- 378,717,dated February 28, 1888.

In resawing it is often desired to make very thin stuff, and so itbecomes necessary to support the cant firmly at the back so that therecan be no springing out near the cut ting-line. In order to provide thisrigid support I fix a strong supporting-back I to the knees i of thecarriage, which are of usual construction, and are mounted on thecarriage in the usual way. This support runs the entire length of thatportion of the carriage which is to be occupied by the cant or log andis composed of thick heavy plank extending from knee to knee andfastened to the latter in any suitable way. In order to provide forresawing cants of extraordinary width I make this supporting-back insections i i which are connected together at will by means of dovetailjoints i so that. the upper section a? may be detached from the kneesand from the lower section whenever desired, but may be quickly appliedwhen there is occasion for resawing very wide cants. The mechanism forreciprocating this carriage may be any known feed mechanism suitable forthis purpose; but I prefer the well-known steam-feed, a portion J ofwhich I have shown in the drawings.

For the purpose of gaging the thickness of the stuff to be cut and alsofirmly holdingthe cant or log just in front of the saw, so that therecan be no lateral springing in eitherdirection, I provide an uprightroller K, preferably of steel, which is mounted loosely in bearings atthe inner edge or side of an upright frame /.t, which is arranged atright angles to the travel of the log-carriage, and is itself adjustableback and forth with reference to the carriage and saw. The rollerframeis shaped, substantially as shown in Figs. I and 8 of the drawings, soas to provide a pivotal bearing for both the lower and upper end of theroller at the inside of the frame nearest to the saw. The outer portionof the frame consists of two arcshaped arms 7; with a narrow spacebetween them, and having on their outer or upper edgesaccurately-graduated notches the graduation being comparatively line-atleast to the sixtyfourth of an inch. The bottom of this frame isprovided with a dovetailed feet 7.1, as seen in Fig. 9 of the drawings.A base-piecc L is set at one side of the carriage and alittle outside ofthe plane of the saw, as seen in Figs. 1 and This base stands at rightangles to the travel of the carriage and a few inches in front of theline of the cutting-teeth of the saw and is firmly bolted to theflooring of the mill. Itis constructed with a dovetail groove orguideway Z in its upper face, as seen in Figs. 2 and of the drawings,which is adapted to receive the dovetail foot of the frame 70, so thatthe latter maybe slipped into this guideway and slide freely back andforth therein. Below this guideway this base-piece L is hollow, as seenin Fig. 2. The base L is located A settin glever M is pivoted by meansof a pivotal belt at to the lower portion of the frame k, as seen inFigs. 1 and 8, from which point it projects upward between the twocircular or sector arms 7;. The lower end of the lever extends downslightly beyond its pivot, and has connected to it one end of a link m,the other end of which ispivoted to the base L, as seen in said Figs. 1and 8. It is obvious that as this lever is vibrated the roller-frame andthe roller which it carries will be set in and out with reference to theplane of the saw. The lever is provided with an ordinary spring handlatch or pawl m which is arranged to slide on the leverand engage withthe notches c in a well-known way, and the graduation of the latter issuch with reference to the lever and its connections that the setting ofthe pawl from one notch to another will vary the position of the rolleracertain fractional part of an inchsay one sixty-fourth. These parts andthis graduation must be very carefully and accurately constructed, sothat the setting of the roller can be obtained withperfeet accuracy andwith great nicety. This enables me to set the roller with perfectaccuracy in relation to the plane of the saw, so that there will be anicely-determined distance between the bearing-line of the roller andthe plane of the saw, whetherof an inch or half an inch, more or less,as may be desired, and the setting-lever being firmly secured in placeby the pawl engaged with the proper notches the roller is held firmly inthe position to which it has been set. Now it is evident that after theroller has been set at the required point, as described above, if thecant or log is set upon the carriage against the roller and theresecured it will be firmly held just in front of the saw between twounyielding surfacesnamely, the roller on one side and the stiff back Ion the other sideso that there can be no lateral spring in eitherdirection, and the usual travel being given to the carriage a board orstrip will be cut olffrom the outside of the cant by the action of thesaw of even uniform thickness throughout, however thin this piece maybe,its thickness being determined, as already explained, by the set of theroller. The setting up of the cant against the roller mentioned above isof course effected by the usual setting of the knees on the carriage,and any ordinary setting mechanism may be employed for this purpose. Inthe drawings I have shown the usual set-shaft N, which is provided atits front end with the usual notched settingwheel a. The devices bymeans of which the rotation of this shaft sets the knees back and forthlaterally of the carriage are perfectly well known and need not be shownand described here. The shaft is revolved by means of a setting-lever O,which is mounted loosely on a pivotal support coincident with thesetting-shaft, or may be the shaft itself. This lever at its lower endembraces the setting-wheel n and is provided with a IIO pawl 0, arrangedto engage with the notches in said wheel, as seen in Figs. 2 and at, sothat the vibration of thelever will revolve the shaft in the well-knownway to move up the knees on the carriage and so properly set the log orcant to the saw,in this instance this set being always firmly againstthe bearing-roller K. It will be understood,of course, that it isdesirable to bring the two setting-levers M and 0 within easy control ofa single attendant, and

evidently the convenient standpoint for this attendant is near the sawat the side of the lever M; but the space between the roller and teethof the saw is so small that if the log-set should be arranged in frontof the saw there would be great danger of accident to the sawyer whenreaching in at the front of the saw to operate this lever. Hence I makethe log-carriage considerably longer than would otherwise be necessaryby extending it outin front much farther than usual, so that when it isin position ready for forward movement toward the saw the carriage willextend very considerably beyond or back of the latter, as seen in Fig.3. This is to provide for a similar extension of the set-shaft N, so asto bring the setting-lever 0 back of the saw instead of in frontthereof, whereby itmay be reached and manipulated easily and withoutdanger by the sawyer standing near the saw, as suggested above. In orderto bring the lever 0 within this easy reach of the sawyer a hori-'zontal handle 0' is attached to the upper end and extended outwardtoward the sawyer within his easy grasp; but it is desirable to providealso for lifting the pawl 0 from engagement with the setting-wheel whenthe cant is cut up and the knees are to be pushed back totheir outerposition. To provide for this I pivot a small bell-crank lever P to thehandle 0' near its inner end and connect one end by an upright link-rodp to the pawl, this connection being made by a short piece of chain 19'at the lower end of the rod. A sliding rod 10 is connected at one end tothe other arm of this lever and is extended outward alongside the handle0, passing through a keeper on said handle and having a coiled springarranged upon it inside the keeper, which operates normally to thrustthe rod inward toward the bell-crank lever. It will be seen that whenthis handle-rod p is pulled outward the pawl 0 will be lifted fromengagement with the setting-wheel, and of course the knees andback-support attached thereto may then be moved back, as usual, to theirouter position ready to receive a new cant.

It is obvious that the carriage-track being arrtnged within the saw,some special provision must be made to permit the removal of the latter,which is often desired for one purpose or another. If the track withinthe saw is entire, as usual, the saw cannot be removed from the mill. Inorder to provide for this, the carriage-tracks are constructed with ashort-hinged section in each,arranged a little Way in front of the saw.This construction is shown in Figs. 5, 6, and 7. Each track F has ashort piece cut out therefrom a little way in front of the saw, and thespace thus left is filled with a short section of track f, which ishinged atone end to the regular track by suitable hinges f. The otherend of each section drops down upon one of the cross-ties for the track,whereby it is firmly supported, and at the same time completely closesthe gap in the track, as seen in Figs. 5 and 6. Now whenever it isdesired to remove the saw these hinged sectionsare turned back, when, ofcourse, the saw taken from the bandwheels may he slipped out through theopen spaces in the track and by the same means replaced when desired.

The operation will be readily understood from the description which hasbeen given above in connection with the mechanical construction of theseveral new features belonging to this mill. The importance of thesei1nprovements, however, can hardly be overestimated. In many largelumber-mills it is very desirable to have a band-saw for resawing on thesame floor or in the immediate vicinity of the main saws, and it is alsovery desirable that this resawing-mill should beadapted to cut up thecant which it is desired to resaw into very thin stuff, at least as thinas half an inch sometimes; and it is also very desirable that themillshould be adapted not only to the production of this thin stuff, butalso to its production of great width, for in some parts of the country,particularly on the Pacific slope, where the logs are of extraordinarysize, it is often desired to resaw a cant of very great width andsometimes to make from this cant very thin stud. Now this re sawingband-mill, with my improvements described above, is adapted to secureall these advantages and provides a mill filling all the requirements ofa resawing-mill in any 10- cality, and will resaw to any required thickness or thinness with perfect uniformity and certainty.

The arrangement of the carriage within the saw is very convenient forany location; but this improvement is especially intended to save room,so that this mill may be set up in mills already in operation wherethere is not room to erect a mill under the ordinary arrangement of thecarriage.

The particular use for which this mill is intended is to resaw cantsinto lumber of any thickness and also to resaw lumber which has beenonce cut to any desired thickness into thin stuff, such as box-boards,&c.; but my invention is not intended to be restricted to thisparticular use or to mills of smaller size designed for this purpose.

I wish to be understood as claiming the invention applied to any-sizedmill and for any purpose whatever, such as the sawing of logs of aconvenient size for this mill or any other work which the mill isadapted to perform. It will be understood, of course, that the partsherein referred to as old are no part of my present invention and arenot here claimed. It is also evident that changes may be made in some ofthe mechanical details of those parts of the mill which are hereindescribed and shown as novelties, and I do not Wish to be understood aslimiting myself to all the specific details of construction andarrangement of these parts as shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a band-saw mill, the band-saw, in combination with thelog-carriage tracks a rran god within the saw and provided with shortindependent sections removable from their normal position in the tracks,substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. In a band-saw mill, the band-saw E, in

combination with the carriage-tracks F, arranged Within the saw andprovided with short hinged sections f, substantially as and for thepurposes specified.

In a band-saW mill, aband-saw E, in combination with the carriage-tracksF, arranged Within the saw, a carriage G, mounted on said tracks andextended at its front endconsiderably beyond the log or cant support.the setting-lever 0, arranged on the said front extension of thecarriage and at the rear of the saw, and the upright bearing-roller Kand its setting-lever M, arranged a little in front and outside of thesaw, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

DE \VITT OLIN"ON PRESCOTT.

Vitnesses:

C. E. NIorIoLs, .T. l FAIRCHILD.

